Chronic tobacco smoking and neuropsychological impairments : a systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
The link between neuropsychological impairments and chronic tobacco smoking is not clear and in the current literature there is a lack of robust analyses investigating this association. A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to identify relevant longitudinal and cross-sectional studies conducted from 1946 to 2017. A meta-analysis was performed from 24 studies testing the performance of chronic tobacco smokers compared with non-smokers on neuropsychological tests related to eight different neuropsychological domains. The results revealed a cross-sectional association between neuropsychological impairments and chronic tobacco smoking in cognitive impulsivity, non-planning impulsivity, attention, intelligence, short term memory, long term memory, and cognitive flexibility, with the largest effect size being related to cognitive impulsivity (SDM = 0.881, p <0.005), and the smallest effect size being related to intelligence (SDM = 0.164, p < 0.05) according to Cohen’s benchmark criteria. No association was found between chronic smoking and motor impulsivity (SDM = 0.105, p = 0.248). Future research is needed to investigate further this association by focusing on better methodologies and alternative methods for nicotine administration.
Citation
Conti , A A , McLean , L , Tolomeo , S , Steele , D & Baldacchino , A M 2019 , ' Chronic tobacco smoking and neuropsychological impairments : a systematic review and meta-analysis ' , Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews , vol. 96 , pp. 143-154 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.11.017
Publication
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0149-7634Type
Journal item
Collections
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